Jeweler believes thieves swiped more than $1M worth of jewelry from Fort Myers store
Brooke BaitingerA south Fort Myers jeweler was dropping off his son at his bus stop Monday morning when he got the call that his jewelry store had been burglarized for the second time in two years.
The thieves got away with more than $1 million in jewelry, according to Aaron Steinberg, owner of Provident Jewelry at 15245 S. Tamiami Trail.
"It's definitely a shock, but it happened in the middle of the night," Steinberg said. "We're all safe and secure, and none of us had to experience it."
Provident Jewelry has been in business for a decade, and Steinberg said he had acquired some of the jewelry through estate sales. Luckily, the thieves were unable to break into the safe, where more valuable items such as century-old heirlooms were secured, he said.
And customer's personal items were also protected, Steinberg said.
But the display cases were completely emptied of jewelry. Insurance companies allows a certain amount to be left out when the store is closed, and that's what was taken, Steinberg said.
That means less is available for sale. Steinberg said he's hoping to buy jewelry from the public to restock his inventory.
The display cases had just been refinished after a 2017 burglary, in which thieves had smashed the glass. "At least this time they didn't smash everything," Steinberg said. "But the cases took forever to get refinished and now they're damaged again."
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The burglars in the most recent theft likely used screwdrivers to wedge open the locks, Steinberg said. They smashed through a hurricane glass side window to access the store, he said.
And they managed to evade the improved security system by shutting power to the building, according to a Lee County Sheriff's Office incident report.
After the 2017 burglary, Steinberg installed a system involving two separate alarm systems. The store has two doorways in the front of the store and customers must be buzzed in once the first door has shut completely.
Steinberg said he recently had installed a WiFi camera, which captured footage of the thieves in the act. As they scrambled to access the safe, a second alarm sounded and they fled, he said.
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Steinberg told Lee County Sheriff's Office deputies that an employee opened the rear door of the store around 7:35 a.m. Monday.
He noticed the power in the building was off, including to the entry alarm panel, the incident report said. He went to the safe room alarm panel, which had power, and deactivated it, the report said.
Steinberg told the deputies the business had been "ransacked" and inside doors were left open that are not normally left open, the report said.
Steinberg said law enforcement officials have leads they are investigating and deputies obtained the footage from the WiFi camera.
"I'm hoping police will catch them," he said.
Connect with this reporter: bbaitinger@news-press.com, 239-910-1743 or Twitter: @BaitingerBrooke